Celebrity - Muvhango Stars(10 Aug 2011)

Muvhango Stars on Expresso

About Muvhango:

The brainchild and concept of South African writer Duma Ndlovu, Muvhango reflects township and Sowetan life.Two branches of the same family are at conflict, torn apart by the clash between the urban and rural communities. In their battle to find a unified answer they're divided by juicy betrayels, jelousies and revenge. Two of the leading cast members, Tsholofelo Monedi and McDonald Ndou, join us live on eXpresso this morning. Their characters, Meme and KK are involved in an abusive relationship and we discuss the dynamics of this.

TVSA's take on Muvhango's:

One of their storylines that is sooo trending in the Southern hemisphere at this point is the relationship between Meme and KK. These two speak of love now and again but there is none evident between them. KK has been set to destroy Meme from the first day he looked at her like more than just a colleague and a co-shareholder. he found a strong woman in her but he has thrown insults at her, taken over her life, made her feel worthless, taken her confidence and reduced her to a shaky little girl.

Meme said something this week that really made me feel even more sorry for her. Something that sounded like: “Physical abuse is better because the scars heal over time. But when someone abuses your emotions, it eats away at you over time”. I actually got a lump on my throat when I heard her say that. It is soooo true.

Mostly it is believed that guys who put their women down are normally doing it to cover up for something that they, themselves, lack – in most cases, they are said to have a small totolozi. I suppose these are guys who either suffer from premature ejaculation of delayed erection. So, because the guy would know that his woman knows about his predicament... and he knows there is no way she can be happy about it, he decides to attack her before she attacks him. It could be a myth, but it makes sense. Is this what our KK could be battling with? Or is he just having issues with the way he looks?

He has made Meme hate herself. He first made he wear a hideous wig or whatever that thing is on her head, then took her with to Venda and as soon as they were back he ordered her to change the way she dresses. Basically she has to cover up everything and anything that looks like flesh and never ever wear anything that looks like it had the potential to be tight. he deliberately killed the stylish, strong-willed, can-do-anything Meme, and gave birth to a blank woman who looks like she has just got off Shosholoza Meyl.

She obliged to all the changes in her body and her life. Why? Because she believed he loved her and wanted to spend a lifetime with her - something she has only heard said to other girls.

Meme has had many failed relationships. With many of these, the men would soon leave her for other women(read Thandaza).... or they’d just not be interested. She is getting old and lonely... and she also has a point to prove to her mother, to Thandaza, and to the rest of the Thate clan. Also, I don’t think she has ever known her father, and if there is one thing that scarred her for life it was the relationship she had with Ndalamo, the blacksheep of Thate. That was the relationship that she had thought would be for life but once more she was misled and betrayed. Though the guy married her and made her pregnant, the Venda family swore never to accept her, and eventually she even lost the pregnancy.

This scenario here forms a very large part of why she has let herself be mishandled by a man as ruthless as KK Mulaudzi. When KK introduced her to his family, they accepted her and that was something she had never experienced before. She then turned KK into a god, a knight in shining armour – who had come to save her from her miserable life where no one wanted her. With KK she felt like finally, she belonged somewhere.

I want to go on and on about how sad this case is and how real it actually is, but i think I’d rather let the readers comment and share their experiences. I believe that many people can see themselves in this relationship - playing either role.

I don't think guys who are KK come across as such. I think a KK guy could be just a sweet boyfriend who, according to him, loves his woman but just wants her to live in his terms. He probably has a perfect picture of how he wants them to be in the future - he just forgets the one important thing - that the woman is also a person and has her own brain. That's all.

And the Meme kinda girl is probably just someone who wants to be happy. She has seen other people get happy around her and when KK comes along, he points out to all her character traits as the reasons she's not happy. Now, because she has always had an issue with being unhappy, everything KK says seems to be the Q'uran. Only to realise later that her real identity has been lost somewhere in between the pages of this Q'uran and it is not helping her in any way, either.

It will be very interesting to see how this story will unfold. I saw the July Teasers promising some more drama. It would be nice to see her gain confidence and finally stand up to him.